


To Find a Friend

by radical



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, LOL i started writing this thinking Aw they're such great friends, Loneliness, but now i am FULLY into the ship, i just want my boys to be happy, judai's parents are the real villians of gx, platonic manjoume & judai is my favorite thing, they're twelve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radical/pseuds/radical
Summary: Sick of dealing with his brothers, Manjoume Jun decides to run away from home. After running out of food and money, though, Manjoume, refusing to go home, decides that his best course of action would be to break into someone's house and steal some of their food.
Relationships: Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton & Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first thing I'm posting on here.  
> Manjoume and Judai as friends is just my favorite thing ever so I had to write something about it.  
> Enjoy this, I guess.

It had been about two days since Manjoume had slept in a proper bed or had a proper meal, and the lack of food and sleep was starting to make him go a little crazy. He was twelve, after all. A growing boy. He needed food. And sleep.

And that was why Manjoume decided that the best course of action was to break into a house and steal some food. And maybe hide in a closet or something so that he could get some rest. Because, really, he did deserve to sleep.

You may be wondering why he was even struggling to find food or a proper place to sleep in the first place. About two days ago, Manjoume had decided that he was sick of his older brothers yelling at him and had run away from home. He had lost a match, you see, and they had gotten upset with him, as they always did. He was sick of it. Hence the whole 'running away' thing.

He just wanted a break from it all. He'd go back soon. Just… not quite yet. He'd find a way to get food that didn't involve going home and dealing with his brothers' wrath.

Running away (temporarily) had been a split second decision, though, and, well, Manjoume had completely forgotten about food, only grabbing the things that had seemed important in the moment: his deck, some money that he had found lying on a table, and a bottle of water that had been empty for about a day at that point.

He had been able to buy himself more water and some food, but he had just run out of money, and he was starting to get really sick of not having a comfortable place to sleep. He really feel like going home yet, though. Thus, he came up with the 'break into a house' plan.

It was dark outside. Manjoume had chosen his target and was leaning against a tree near the house that he had chosen. He had chosen this specific house because… well, it had been one of the first ones he had seen, and he hadn't seen or heard any activity within it. So. 

It was at that moment that Manjoume's stomach growled, and he could wait no longer. 

He walked over to the house and stopped in front of the path leading to the door, hesitating. Boy, his brothers would be so upset if they found out what he was doing. 

Well. Good.

He walked up to the door and started to lift his hand to turn the knob before he realized that 1) it would probably be locked, and 2) he couldn't just barge in through the front door. God, why hadn't he thought of an actual plan?

Manjoume was about to try the windows when he decided that trying to climb through those would probably be incredibly noisy and decided that there really wasn't any harm in trying the door. At least, it probably wasn't any more risky than climbing through windows that would probably also be locked. Thus, he turned the knob and… it opened?

Oh. He hadn't been expecting that.

Great!

Whoever lived here needed to remember to lock their door so that actually dangerous people couldn't break in. Maybe Manjoume would leave them a note before he left.

Slowly, Manjoume opened the door and crept inside. It was dark inside the house; it took Manjoume's eyes a minute or so to adjust. Once they did, he saw that the door opened into a hallway. After quietly closing the door behind him, Manjoume began searching for the kitchen.

The house was pretty big. Fancy. He assumed that whoever lived there had some amount of money. Not as much as he did, of course. Or, well, not as much as he usually did. He didn't exactly have access to the funds that he normally did that money.

Still.

Anyway, it didn't take him very long to find the kitchen. Only a couple minutes. He had first stumbled into quite the spacious living room, with a couch, a chair, and a coffee table in it. The next room, though, was the very place he had been searching for: the kitchen. After lingering for a moment, Manjoume walked into the room and, soon, he was digging through the fridge, trying to find something that looked good.

Unfortunately for him, the fridge was… surprisingly empty. There was some food in it, yes. But not much.

He managed to find some sliced cheese and meat and decided to make himself a sandwich. 

He was halfway through making said sandwich when he heard a sound coming from some other room further into the house and froze, staring in the direction that the sound had come from. 

After a moment of silence, Manjoume breathed a sigh of relief and finished making his sandwich. He had probably just been hearing things. That was what he told himself. That is, until he had begun raising the sandwich to his mouth and he heard someone say, "Hello? Who are you?"

In reaction to hearing this person speak, Manjoume shrieked, dropped the sandwich, and jumped backwards, only to lose his balance fall onto the floor. If anyone asked, though, he would vehemently deny this, instead describing a much more, ah, graceful version of his reaction.

The person who had spoken was standing in the entrance to the kitchen. It was a boy, wearing red pajamas. He appeared to be the same age as Manjoume and had brown eyes and brown hair, though the hair on the top of his head was lighter than the rest of it. The boy flicked on the lights and repeated, "Who are you?"

Instead of answering his question, Manjoume stood up and pointed at the sandwich that was now on the floor. He then, quite angrily, said, "You scared me! I dropped my food!"

The boy looked down at the sandwich on the floor, then back at Manjoume. "Well, you woke me up." Then, again, he said, "Who are you?"

Manjoume held his head high, straightened, put his hands on his hips, and said, "My name's Manjoume Jun." 

"Oh. 'Kay. I'm Judai. Why are you here?"

"I was hungry."

"Oh. Okay."

They stood there in silence for a moment, staring at each other, before Manjoume picked up the ruined sandwich and threw it away. Then, he went over to where he had left the cheese, meat, and bread and began to make himself another one. Manjoume was peacefully making himself a second sandwich, having forgotten that the other boy--Judai--was even there, when said boy asked, "Can I have one?"

Startled, Manjoume almost dropped his second sandwich. "Isn't, um, isn't this your food?"

"Oh, yeah."

Soon, they were both sitting at a big table in Judai's dining room, eating sandwiches. Manjoume had also found glasses and gotten himself a cup of water. The sandwiches had been made in complete silence. Judai didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that there was an unwanted guest in his home. He seemed tired, which made since considering that he had apparently been sleeping, but not at all confused or worried about the fact that Manjoume was sitting at his table with him.

Honestly, he was a little surprised that he hadn't been kicked out of this boy's house. You weren't supposed to break into other people's homes, Manjoume was pretty sure. He had only done it out of desperation, he would never do this kind of thing without a reason. Judai, though, didn't seem at all bothered by having an uninvited guest and had been watching Manjoume with some sort of odd curiosity in his eyes ever since he had walked into the kitchen.

"So why were you stealing my food?" Judai asked after however many minutes of silence.

"I told you," Manjoume replied. "I was hungry."

"But why couldn't you just eat your own food? Like, at your own house?"

The questions were annoying. Manjoume had never liked people prying into his personal business, and he wasn't about to just spill his life story to some random boy.

"None of your business," Manjoume answered.

"But you broke into my house."

"So?"

"You broke into my house and stole my food."

Manjoume glared at him. He had not sufficiently prepared himself for having to have a whole conversation with somebody about his personal business. Thus, he grabbed his sandwich and hopped off of the chair he had been sitting in, deciding that it was time for him to leave. He had gotten his food. That had been the main mission. So there was no reason for him to stay any longer.

Before he was able to get even a foot away from the table, though, Judai said, "No, wait! Sorry. I'll be quiet."

Manjoume stopped and turned back toward him, considering the pros and cons of his options. If he stayed, he might have to deal with interacting with this other boy. If he left, though, he'd have to find someone comfortable outside to finish his food and also to sleep, and he hadn't managed to do that the previous two nights, so he didn't see why he would be able to find one that night.

Thus, he sat back down and continued eating.

Judai was not very good at staying quiet. Or still, for that matter. Every couple seconds, he would open his mouth and then quickly close it. And he kept annoyingly tapping his fingers on the table.

After a couple minutes of watching Judai begin to say something before stopping himself, Manjoume said, "What?"

"But… um, but you said not to talk."

"I don't care anymore."

"Oh. Well. Are you, well, do you, like, not have a home or something? Because, I mean, well, if you need to, you can stay here. There's a lot of room 'cause I'm the only one here."

Again, Manjoume was confused. He had known this boy for, what, fifteen minutes? Why would he offer Manjoume a place to stay? 

Instead of accepting or denying his offer, Manjoume said, "I have a home."

"Then why are you here?"

"None of your business."

"Okay." Judai was quiet for a moment. Well, vocally, at least. He was still tapping his fingers on the table. He was swinging his legs, too, and every once in a while, one of them would hit one of the chair legs with a bang! It was incredibly annoying. "So then," Judai continued, "are you staying?"

"Why would I?"

Judai shrugged, looking kind of embarrassed. "I don't know. Nevermind."

By that point, Manjoume had finished his sandwich and had had a nice amount of water. Judai had resumed being silent except for the sound of his fingers tapping the table, and Manjoume had decided that it was time for him to leave. For real this time. And, so, he stood up and headed for the door. Judai didn't stop him that time.

Once he reached the door, he shouted, "Your door was unlocked."

Judai, who had apparently followed him out of the kitchen, said, "So?"

"People will break into your house."

"No one has before."

"I did."

Judai shrugged. Manjoume turned back toward the door and was about to open it when Judai said, "Wait!"

Manjoume looked back over at Judai, who was pointing at Manjoume's belt, which had his deck strapped to it. 

"You play Duel Monsters?"

Happy to have the opportunity to brag, Manjoume straightened and said, "Yeah, I play. I'm probably one of the best players around, too."

A massive grin spread across Judai's face. He looked awestruck. If they were cartoon characters, Manjoume imagined that he would have had stars in his eyes. Judai's apparent wonder at the fact that Manjoume was good at Duel Monsters gave Manjoume a momentary massive confidence boost.

"Really?!" Judai said. "That's so cool! I love Duel Monsters. Can we play? Please?"

"Isn't it super late at night? Won't your parents get upset?"

"Oh, nah, it's fine. They're not getting home until, um, the end of the week, I think. Come on! Let's play!" 

Before Manjoume could even process what the other boy had said, Judai had grabbed Manjoume's wrist and was dragging him back in the direction of the kitchen. Quickly, Manjoume pulled himself free and scowled, taking a step away from him. Judai turned toward him, looking confused.

"I never said you could touch me," Manjoume told him, glaring. "I didn't say I would play either."

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun!"

Manjoume crossed his arms. "Why should I?"

"Because It'll be fun!"

"What if I want more out of it than fun?"

"What else is there to get out of it?"

Manjoume shrugged, not sure. Money?

"Please?" Judai said. "I haven't gotten to duel anyone in so long."

"Why?" Manjoume asked. 

Judai shrugged. "No one wants to. I… " He frowned and his brows scrunched together. He looked like he was trying to remember something. "I, uh, I don't… know why. But… please?"

"Well, maybe I don't want to either."

Honestly, he was kind of tired. After all, It was pretty late. If they dueled, he probably wouldn't be able to do his best, and if they were going to duel, Manjoume wanted to be able to show off his skills.

"Please?" Judai said again. "You broke into my house. That's illegal. You should have to, uh… repay me."

Well… what did Manjoume have to lose? If he said no and left, he didn't even know where he would go. 

"Fine."

A grin spread across Judai's face and he grabbed Manjoume's hand and started pulling him further into the house. Again, Manjoume pulled his hand away and glared when Judai flashed him an apologetic smile. 

Manjoume had assumed that they were going back to the kitchen, but Judai walked past it and headed down a hallway.

"Where are we going?" Manjoume asked him.

"My room. That's where my cards are. We can play on the floor or something."

"Oh."

Thus, they went into his room. Judai immediately ran toward a closet on the opposite end of the room than the door while Manjoume stood by the doorway. 

The room was… well, a mess. There were clothes all over the floor, his bed wasn't made, and there were some toys scattered around the room. If Manjoume had allowed his room to be this messy, he probably would have gotten in trouble.

A minute or so later, Judai ran back over to Manjoume holding his cards. He then led Manjoume over to the middle of the room, and they sat down on the floor. Manjoume pulled out his cards and placed them in front of him. Judai did the same.

Manjoume had been feeling pretty confident in his chances of winning, honestly. Judai had said that he hadn't played in a while, after all. But his confidence slowly diminished as Judai used his Elemental Hero cards to slowly bring down Manjoume's life points. 

He wasn't winning in a landslide or anything. But he was definitely good at the game.

Ultimately, Judai won. Manjoume was quite embarrassed. He had just told this kid that he was good, one of the best, and then he had lost! Judai didn't seem to care that Manjoume apparently wasn't as good as he had made himself out to be, though. The moment the game was over, he had looked up at Manjoume with a massive grin and had exclaimed that it had been a super fun game.

That didn't stop Manjoume from being embarrassed and disappointed in himself, though. 

Instead of wallowing in sadness because of his loss, Manjoume told himself that it was probably because he was tired. He was just too sleepy to be able to play at his best.

Manjoume had glared at Judai and challenged him to a rematch. They ended up playing a grand total of five games. Manjoume only won one of them, which he was pretty gosh darn upset about. God, if his brothers knew, they would be so disappointed in him. 

The thought of how his brothers would feel made Manjoume even more embarrassed, and he was about to challenge Judai to another game to try to prove himself when the other boy yawned. 

"I'm tired," Judai said. "That was fun. We should play more tomorrow."

Tomorrow? Did that mean that Judai was expecting him to come back?

Choosing to ignore that part of Judai's comment, Manjoume gathered his cards before standing up and saying, "Well, If we're done, I'm leaving."

"Leaving? Why?"

"Aren't we finished playing?"

"Yeah, but… you have to go home?"

"No. I'm not going home."

"Then where are you going?"

Manjoume had no idea. He told Judai, "None of your business."

Judai stood up, leaving his cards on the floor. "Why don't you… " He shifted. "I mean, well… if you don't have somewhere else to be…well, my parents, they aren't getting home for another couple days, so you could--"

"Stay here? Why?"

Judai shrugged, looking more shy than he had at any other point that night. "I dunno. It's… well, it's nice having another person here. And then we can play again tomorrow! Man, that was so much fun. It felt so good to get to duel again."

"I… you don't know me."

Judai shrugged. "We dueled. We're friends now."

Manjoume scowled. "I am not your friend."

"Aw. Why?"

"'Cause… 'cause I don't even know you! And you're annoying."

"Well, if you think I'm annoying, then you obviously know me a little. Enough to have, um, formed an opinion on me."

"We met, like, not even two hours ago!"

Judai had gathered up his cards and was walking to the other side of the room, probably to put them away. "So? We can still be friends even if we just met."

"Not if I don't agree!"

The brown-haired boy didn't respond, instead walking over to the bed that was in the middle of the room and saying, "So… you're not staying? 'Cause, I mean, well, the couch is pretty comfy. I've slept on it before."

One half of Manjoume's brain was screaming at him that there was just no way he could handle staying the night here. If he stayed, he'd get roped into hanging out with Judai the next day, and the other boy was just… so carefree, it was irritating. The other half of his brain, though, reminded him that staying meant he would get a nice, cozy place to sleep and probably breakfast the next morning. And, well, he was willing to have to deal with another person if it meant he would get some good food. He did need food to live, after all.

"Fine. I'll stay," Manjoume said.

Judai grinned. "Great! This'll be so much fun!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lotta nonsense, probably

The next morning, Manjoume woke up and, due to not knowing where he was, panicked. He threw the blanket he was under off of him, jumped up, and, after looking around, remembered where he was and sat back down on the coach.

Waking up somewhere other than home was weird.

Manjoume glanced outside. It looked like the sun had only just begun to rise, meaning that, considering the fact that it had been fairly late when he had fallen asleep, he had only gotten a couple hours of rest. Still, he had slept better than he had the previous two nights, so that was nice.

Being in another person's house, having slept on another person's couch… Well, because of how new the situation was to him, it just felt kind of… awkward. Weird. Manjoume hadn't really ever had any friends. At least, not ones that wanted to hang out with him outside of school. So he had never slept at a friend's house before. Actually, he barely left home for anything other than tournaments. 

Thus, now that he was awake and Judai was not awake, Manjoume did not exactly know what he was supposed to do. Did he just… stay there and wait for the other boy to wake up? Should he… leave? He had been, in a way, coerced into staying through being offered a comfortable place to sleep. (Though… Manjoume had done most of the coercing to himself. Judai had just… offered the couch. Whatever.)

No, no, he couldn't leave. If he stayed, breakfast was a possibility, and Manjoume didn't know where else he would find food. Also, he didn't know where he was going to go when he left. He would have to go home eventually. He just… didn't really feel like going home quite yet.

So, he stayed sitting on the couch for… well, he actually wasn't exactly sure how long he sat there, but it felt like a long time. When Judai strolled into the room, yawning, the sun was up and the sky was blue. 

"You sleep late," Manjoume told him.

"I like sleeping," Judai replied, mid-yawn.

The other boy walked over to the couch and sat down next to Manjoume. Judai slouched down in the couch, grabbed a pillow and squeezed it, his eyes barely even open. Manjoume didn't exactly want to sit there and watch Judai sleep for another hour, but he also wasn't sure whether or not it was socially acceptable to command him to wake up and get food. He didn't really want to get kicked out before he was given breakfast.

Then again, Judai didn't really seem like the kind of person that would just kick Manjoume out.

After a couple minutes, Manjoume got fed up and said, "Are you just going to fall asleep again?"

Judai jumped.

"Sorry," Judai said. Then he yawned, stood up, and stretched. "Um, do you want toast? I have toast. I don't… really know how to cook anything else, but I have bread and butter."

"Okay."

And, so, they had toast. 

After he had finished, Judai immediately ran off to his room, grabbed his cards, and then came back to the table.

"Wanna play?" He asked.

Well, there was nothing better to do.

"Okay."

They must have played for hours. Just like the previous times they had played, Judai won most of the games, which Manjoume was trying very, very hard to act cool about. The first time he had lost, he had claimed that he had just been warming up. When he lost again after that, he told Judai that he was still tired so of course he was being sloppy. After he had lost four times and had run out of excuses, Manjoume just scowled and challenged him to a rematch.

Judai seemed to find his reaction to losing a bunch of times in a row very amusing.

Manjoume wasn't entirely sure how many games they had played when he finally won. When he did, though, he decided that he no longer wanted to suffer through the embarrassment of losing and wanted to end on a high note, and declared that he was done playing.

"Aw," Judai said. "But I'm not bored yet."

"That's not my problem."

"Hmph. Okay."

For a minute or so, they sat there not saying anything. Then, Judai said, "So… if you're done, does that mean you're leaving?"

Oh. He hadn't thought about that.

"Um--"

"You should stay and have lunch here! I have, um… we can make more sandwiches! And then we can play more after we finish eating. Or, or watch a movie or something. I dunno."

The offer of food was quite enticing.

"Fine," Manjoume replied. 

With a smile, Judai jumped out of his chair and walked into the kitchen. Manjoume followed him. 

"There isn't a lot of bread left," Judai was saying. "I dunno what I'm going to eat if I run out before my parents get back."

"You don't know how to make anything else?" Manjoume asked.

"Uh… I can make cereal."

"That doesn't count. That's just pouring milk into a bowl. Only an idiot wouldn't know how to make cereal."

Judai shrugged, handed Manjoume a plate, and then went to gather what they would need to make their sandwiches.

A couple minutes later, as they were making them, Judai asked, "Did you run away or something?"

Manjoume froze.

"Hey. You okay? You dropped the cheese you were holding onto the floor."

Manjoume glared at him. "How did you know?"

"It was a guess. So why did you?"

Instead of answering his question, Manjoume glared at him for another couple seconds before quickly finishing making his sandwich and walking back over to the table. 

"Hey, wait!" Judai shouted. "The cheese you dropped is still on the floor!"

Continuing to ignore him, Manjoume sat down and started eating. There was just no way that he was going to talk about his stupid brothers with this stupid boy. It wasn't Judai's business. 

Judai sat down across from him. "I picked the cheese up for you. You're welcome."

Manjoume didn't reply.

"Are you mad? Sorry. I won't ask any more questions."

When Manjoume, again, did not reply, Judai started to repeat, "Are you mad--?" 

Manjoume interrupted him, saying, "That's a question."

"Oh. Riiiight."

And then the conversation ended, and they both ate their sandwiches.

Neither of them really said much of anything to each other for a while. After they ate, they played an almost silent game of Duel Monsters, and then Judai led Manjoume into his living room and, after they had sat down on the couch, turned on the TV. Manjoume hadn't been paying attention and could not at all remember what it was that they were watching. He had zoned out, trying to think of some strategy that would allow him to beat Judai so that he could earn back his honor.

True to his word, Judai did not ask Manjoume any more questions.

Manjoume kind of wanted to ask him questions, actually. He was a little curious about where the other boy's parents were. But he was pretty sure that if he asked a question, that meant that Judai would then have the right to ask a question in return. Balance. Newton's third law or something. 

Manjoume didn't want to be asked any personal questions so he decided not to voice his own for the time being.

When whatever it was that they had been watching ended, Judai turned the TV off and said, "Can I ask just one question?"

"Why?"

"Um… because I want to? And I asked nicely."

When Manjoume didn't reply, Judai added, "And you broke into my house. Which is illegal."

Well… he could always just not answer if it was information he didn't want to divulge. 

"Fine," Manjoume said, "Whatever."

"When are you gonna go home?"

Well, the honest answer to that question was that Manjoume had not exactly thought about it. Not that day. Probably not the next day. He was pretty sure that Judai's actual question, though, was when Manjoume would be leaving his house.

Manjoume had noticed how the other boy kept coming up with ways to get Manjoume to stay longer. Why, he had no idea.

In response to Judai's question, Manjoume shrugged.

Judai was silent for a couple seconds before asking, "Can I ask another question?"

"But you said you were only going to ask one," Manjoume replied.

"Well, now I want to ask another one."

Manjoume crossed his arms. "No. You can't ask another question. It's my turn."

"Oh, uh. 'Kay. Then do I get to ask another question?"

"No! You only get one question and you already asked it."

"Lame."

"Shut up! It's my turn now."

The thing that he had been curious about was why Judai's parents were gone. By then, though, he was kind of more curious about why the brown-haired boy seemed to want him around, especially considering that Manjoume had, y'know, broken into his house. He was worried that asking that would lead to some sort of emotional answer that he didn't know how to reply to, though.

He was also kind of curious about how Judai was so good at dueling if he hadn't dueled anyone in so, so long, but Manjoume was pretty sure that asking that would be admitting that Judai was better than him, and there was no way that Manjoume would ever admit that. Ever.

Eventually, he decided to ask, "Where are your parents?"

"Oh, um… A work trip. I dunno where the trip is. They go on a lot of work trips, so I'm here alone a lot."

"Why would you not know where the trip is? Shouldn't you need to know where they are in case you need their help?"

Judai smirked and said, "I thought you said we each only got one question."

Manjoume scowled.

"I'll answer if I get to ask my second question!" Judai told him.

"No. I don't really care anyway. No more questions."

"Well, if we aren't gonna ask questions, then what do we talk about?"

"We don't have to--" Manjoume stopped and pressed his lips together. Well, of course they had to talk. They had to do something. Otherwise, it would be weird for him to be there. "I don't know."

"We could play more Duel Monsters!" Judai suggested.

"Again?"

"Yes!"

It was kind of impressive that he could play so many times without getting bored. And kind of annoying. The reason he was so good at the stupid game was probably because he annoyed all of his past opponents into playing against him a billion times every time they played. Maybe that was why nobody wanted to play with him: they were worried they would get stuck playing all day.

"Fine," Manjoume said. 

Judai grinned and stood up before running out of the room, presumably back toward the table, where all of their cards still were. Manjoume followed and, soon, they were in the middle of another game of Duel Monsters. 

The entire game, Judai was grinning and swinging his legs back and forth. A couple times, he accidently kicked Manjoume's feet under the table. In response, Manjoume had kicked him back, which had resulted in a kicking war. For a couple minutes, Manjoume even forgot that they were playing a card game, he was so focused on winning the war. Then Judai would attack him or something like that, and Manjoume would look up and remember what they had been doing.

In the middle of a match, Judai got very quiet and spent a couple minutes staring at his cards before he looked up at Manjoume and said, "Do we get to ask more questions yet?"

"No. Why do you want to ask me questions so bad?"

"I'm just curious."

"About what?"

"Y'know. Why you're in my house."

"I already told you," Manjoume said. "I came here to get food."

"But why did you need to come here to get food?" Judai asked.

"Because I didn't have any money."

"Why didn't you have any money?"

"I ran out."

"Why couldn't you get more from home?"

"'Cause I don't wanna go home."

"Why?"

"Well, my brothers--" Manjoume snapped his mouth shut and looked up at Judai with a glare. The other boy was looking at him with an innocent smile. Manjoume threw the cards that he had been holding at him.

"Hey!" Judai said before gathering all of the cards that Manjoume had thrown at him. Then, making Manjoume incredibly annoyed, instead of giving them back, he started looking through them. "Nice hand."

Manjoume kicked him.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Stop looking at my cards!" Manjoume said, reaching across the table and attempting to grab them out of Judai's hands. "You aren't supposed to see my hand!"

Judai held them out of Manjoume's reach. "You threw them at me!"

Manjoume stood up and walked over to where Judai was sitting. Before he could take the cards away, though, Judai stood up and ran to the other end of the table. Manjoume chased after him. 

"Give me back my cards!" Manjoume shouted as he chased Judai in circles around the table.

"No!" Judai replied, though Manjoume could barely understand what he was saying because of how much Judai was giggling.

"Why?"

"I don't feel like it!"

After a solid minute of chasing Judai around the table, Manjoume stopped running and turned to Judai to glare at him. The other boy, still giggling, stopped, too, and the two stood there for a moment, not saying anything. Then Judai walked over to Manjoume, held out the cards, and said, "Here." 

Manjoume snatched them out of Judai's hands.

"You're annoying," Manjoume said, shoving the other boy's shoulder.

"No, I'm Judai."

It took all of Manjoume's willpower to not strangle him right then and there. 

"I'm bored," Judai said, not at all seeming to notice the aura of anger that Manjoume was sure he was exuding. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Not with you, I don't."

It took a grand total of five minutes for Judai to convince Manjoume to go on a walk with him. Manjoume told himself that the only reason he conceded was because he didn't want to listen to Judai begging him, but, in actuality, a walk did not sound like a horrible idea. Plus, considering that he could just leave at any time, not wanting to listen to Judai complaining wasn't really a valid explanation, was it?

Soon, they had both thrown shoes on and were walking around, seemingly aimlessly. Judai led the way, humming, and Manjoume trailed behind him. 

"I like to go on walks when my parents aren't home," Judai said. "Being at home feels… " He paused for what felt like forever before saying, "lonely."

Manjoume didn't say anything in response. He wasn't exactly sure what it was he should say in response to that, actually.

Judai slowed down so that him and Manjoume were walking side-by-side and asked, "So when are you leaving?"

"Today, of course."

He wasn't really sure why Judai was even asking him that. Why would he stay another night? He barely knew Judai, and Judai barely knew him. He couldn't just… stay.

Taking Manjoume by surprise, Judai then asked, "Why?"

After a moment, Manjoume said, "Well, why would I stay?"

Judai shrugged. "Can you stay?"

"I--um. Why?"

"Why not?"

"But why?"

"It'd--it'd be fun! And, well, I like having another person at home when my parents are gone."

They walked down a whole block before Manjoume said, "How much of the time are your parents gone?"

"I dunno. A lot. Most of the time."

There was another long stretch of silence before Manjoume said, "I can't just stay forever."

"I know."

Well, what harm would another night do? His brothers probably didn't even really care that he was gone. 

Thus, Manjoume told him, "I'll stay."

They didn't do anything significant for the rest of the day. Judai led Manjoume back to his house after a little while, they played some more Duel Monsters, and ate some food. Then, when the sun had set, Judai yawned, announced that he was tired, and Manjoume and him went to sleep. 

The next morning, Manjoume woke up a fairly significant amount of time before Judai did again, but he decided not to wait for the other boy to get breakfast that time. He went and made himself toast and then sat down at the table, waiting for Judai to wake up.

When Judai eventually did wake up, he sat down at the table across from Manjoume and ate his own piece of toast.

The morning went by peacefully, them doing about the same things that they had done the previous day. 

While they were eating lunch, though, Judai said, "I think my parents are coming home tomorrow."

"Oh," Manjoume replied. "Okay. Then I'll leave later."

"No, I can just hide you in my closet or something."

Not knowing exactly how to explain how against the idea that idea Manjoume was, he just stared at him.

"They're probably only coming back for, like, a day," Judai added. "Then they'll be leaving again."

"I'm not hiding in your closet."

"Why?"

"That sounds, like, uncomfortable. And boring. And like a stupid idea. How will I eat?"

"I can bring you food."

"How will I use the bathroom?"

"Oh." Judai frowned. "I dunno."

"Dumbass."

"Well… I can think of something else. Maybe you can just stay in my room. That wouldn't be uncomfortable, and the bathroom is right across the hall. My parents don't really, like, check in on me or my room or anything. I bet they wouldn't find you."

"Fine. Whatever."

They continued eating.

After a couple minutes of silence, Judai asked, "When do you have to leave?"

Manjoume shrugged.

"Is your family gonna, like… look for you?"

"Maybe." Manjoume suspected that they would only look for him if a tournament was announced that they could enter him in to get him--and the rest of his family--more exposure. "Probably not. Who cares? It doesn't matter."

"Why wouldn't they look for you?"

Manjoume really wished that Judai would stop asking him questions about stuff that related to his family. He didn't want to talk about his family.

"They probably don't care. You shouldn't care about any of this. It's none of your business."

Apparently ignoring him, Judai said, "That's mean of them."

Annoyed, Manjoume said, "Well, it doesn't really sound like your family cares, either."

Immediately, Judai stopped talking and his eyes drifted away from Manjoume and down toward his plate.

"Sorry," Manjoume mumbled.

"I… I think that… " Judai started to say, before laying his head on top of his arm on the table and saying, "Nevermind. I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't… know if my parents would look for me."

"Well, I'm sure that my brothers won't."

There was another pause in the conversation before Judai asked, "Why'd you leave?"

"It doesn't matter. My brothers are just annoying, and I wanted to get away."

"Annoying how?"

Manjoume shrugged in response. He didn't really know how to phrase it, really. They got mad at him a lot for what seemed like, at least to him, for no reason. They kept telling him that he just had to win every tournament they put him in, as if he would be worthless if he lost. It didn't really seem like they cared much about him at all. It seemed like they only cared about him when--

He didn't really want to think about it. Or talk about it.

"They're just annoying," Manjoume told him.

"Oh. 'Kay."

And the conversation ended there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conclusion.

When Judai had mentioned that his parents were coming home, Manjoume had not thought that that would mean that Judai would be waking him up at, like, three in the morning.

Early that morning, so early that the sun had yet to even start coming up, Judai had shaken Manjoume awake and dragged him off of the couch and into his room. Judai had then led Manjoume over to a chair, told him to sit tight, and then left. All of it happened before Manjoume had even woken up enough to process what was going on.

After a couple minutes, Judai came into the room, threw a piece of toast into Manjoume's hands, and then quickly left again. It wasn't too long after that that Manjoume heard the main door open, followed by voices that he assumed were Judai's parents. He was pretty sure that he heard them say hello to Judai but, other than that, Manjoume couldn't make out whatever it was that they were talking about. 

It didn't take too long for Manjoume to decide that he could not handle staring at the wall and doing nothing for the entire day. Thus, he walked over to Judai's bed, lied down, and  
went back to sleep.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he awoke to the sound of the door opening. He sat up and saw Judai, who held a finger to his mouth after seeing that Manjoume was up and awake, closing the door. He could still hear voices in the other room, which must have been Judai's parents.

Judai walked over to the bed and sat down in front of Manjoume. He then whispered, "They're talking about work or something."

"Am I supposed to just--" Manjoume started to say before Judai shushed him. He then continued, whispering, "--sit in here all day?"

"Did you have plans?"

"No. But--whatever. What do I do in here all day?"

"Mm… you could talk to your cards."

"Talk to… excuse me?"

"Mine don't really respond much anymore, but--" 

"Excuse me?"

Judai stopped talking and looked up at Manjoume. They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Judai said, "Nevermind. I have old homework that I never did. You could do my old homework."

Manjoume decided to let the topic of talking cards drop because he was scared of where that might lead. "I'm not doing your old homework. Why didn't you do it yourself? Did you fail your classes? Idiot."

"The work is boring!"

"You still have to do it!"

"Whatever." He stood up. "I should go back out. Just wanted to make sure you weren't dead."

And then Judai left the room, closing the door behind him. Not too long after he was gone, Manjoume pulled out his deck and decided to look through his cards. He needed to think of new strategies. Needed to come up with a way to ensure that he would defeat Judai each and every time they played against each other. Doing that would probably also help him in tournaments that his brothers would definitely be putting him in once he got back home.

Home… 

As annoying as Judai was, Manjoume was starting to prefer spending time with him over being with his brothers. "Starting to." No, not starting to. Being with Judai had been more fun than being with his brothers since the moment they met. He would never, never admit that outloud, though. He was sure that Judai would… be annoying about it or something. But it was true. Spending time with his brothers just made him miserable and stressed.

He couldn't stay away forever, though. 

The door opened, and Judai walked back into the room.

"I was right," Judai said. "My parents are leaving again tomorrow morning."

"To where?"

"I dunno. I didn't ask."

"So you're always here alone?"

"Yeah. It's lonely. But It's not all bad. I have friends."

"Who?"

Instead of answering, Judai glanced toward where Manjoume was pretty sure his cards were. Then he looked back at Manjoume and shrugged.

"So," Manjoume said, "I still don't know what I'm supposed to do all day."

"Sleep? I don't know. It's not my job to tell you what to do."

Manjoume started to say, "But I'm your guest," before stopping himself since he was, y'know, an uninvited guest. Then he glared at the other boy and muttered, "Fine, whatever."

The brown-haired boy walked over to the bed and sat down next to Manjoume. "I don't think they'll notice if I stay in here for a while. They're probably talking about plans for when they leave tomorrow."

Flipping through his cards, Manjoume hummed to indicate that he had heard.

And so, they sat next to each other in silence for however long. Manjoume continued to stare at his cards, hoping that doing so would allow him to come up with some genius strategy for winning. He was too focused on his cards to pay too much attention to Judai, but he was pretty sure that the other boy sat there doing nothing, saying nothing, just staring at the wall or something the entire time. Considering that Manjoume was pretty sure Judai hadn't gone a single moment without moving or talking every other second that he had been there, Manjoume was impressed.

It was nice, Manjoume thought. Even if they weren't doing anything, even if they weren't talking, it was nice to just… be there with another person.

And Judai wasn't bad company, really. Even if he was insufferable.

He was also definitely a much more fun opponent than the people he versed in the tournaments his brothers forced him to participate in.

A woman's voice called out Judai's name, and he glanced at Manjoume before shouting, "coming!" and running out of the room. 

Manjoume decided that he would have to leave, at the very latest, at the end of the next day. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to make himself go home.

The majority of the rest day, Manjoume sat on Judai's bed, not doing anything. Judai would come in-and-out, never staying in the room for more than a couple minutes before racing back out to speak to his parents again. They didn't have any meaningful conversations. They actually didn't talk much at all. Whenever Judai came into the room, he would sit down next to Manjoume, looking tired and kind of annoyed, before leaving without saying anything other than hello.

When Judai finally came into the room permanently, he whispered, "My parents are going to sleep now," before sitting beside Manjoume. "They're leaving early tomorrow morning."

"Mm."

"You've gotta sleep in here tonight. So they don't find you in the other room."

"Where?" Manjoume asked. "There's only one bed in here. I'm not sleeping on the floor."

"I can make something out of blankets."

"That's still on the floor."

"Okay, fine, you can sleep in my bed with me."

"W-what?" Manjoume said, flustered. "No. I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

"Okay, well, if it's really that much of a problem, then you can have the bed. I guess I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Good."

Judai laughed.

After a moment, quietly, Manjoume said, "I think I'll have to leave tomorrow."

It probably wasn't actually that long until Judai gave any indication that he had heard, but to Manjoume it felt like an hour. All he said was "oh."

It was a really sad sounding "oh."

"Sorry," Manjoume mumbled.

"No, you have to… get back to your family."

Had to. Had. Definitely didn't want to. Manjoume nodded.

Judai nodded back before grabbing a pillow off of his bed and stalking off to the closet. He returned a moment later with a bunch of blankets in his arms. He then put some of the blankets onto the floor and placed one of the pillows on top of them.

"I think I'll go to bed now," Judai told Manjoume. 

"Okay."

The brown-haired boy turned off the lights and then walked back over to his blankets and curled up in them. There was a couple minutes of Manjoume awkwardly sitting on the edge of Judai's bed before he, too, got comfortable and went to sleep.

The next morning was chaos. 

Manjoume woke up to Judai screaming. Once he got his bearings and remembered where he was, Judai had awoken and quieted down, but he was looking around the room with a wild look in his eyes. Unsure of what to say, Manjoume just stared at him.

"Sorry," Judai whispered.

"Are… are you okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Nightmares."

In an attempt to help, Manjoume asked, "What, um… what about?"

"Um… I… " Judai frowned. "I don't know. Don't remember."

Deciding from the look on Judai's face that his question had only frustrated the other boy, Manjoume let the conversation drop there. 

Footsteps in the hallway. Judai shot Manjoume a panicked look, and the other boy rolled off of Judai's bed and onto the floor, lying there flat as a pancake. Judai stood up, raced over to the bed, and sat down. 

The door opened. Manjoume couldn't see who was there from where he was but, after a moment, he heard a woman say, "Judai? Why are you screaming?"

"No reason," Judai responded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well… your father and I are leaving soon, actually… want to come have breakfast?"

"Alright."

And then he left. Manjoume heard him stand up and leave the room. Then, once he heard the door shut, he got back onto Judai's bed and sat there. 

He was awake enough that he didn't feel like going back to sleep. It didn't seem like it was that early, he had probably gotten a solid amount of rest, so… whatever. 

What time was he going to leave? The end of the day? No, no, too late, he would lose his nerve and stay. Maybe after lunch. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. It would still be difficult; he was still dreading having to face his brothers. But he had to leave eventually.

Soon, Judai came back into the room. "My parents are gone," he said. "Want some toast?"

"Okay."

And so they went and got toast.

"What time are you leaving?" Judai asked.

"The afternoon."

"Okay."

They continued eating. After a couple excruciating minutes of silence, Manjoume blurted out, his face red, "It was really nice being here. Um… th-thank you."

Judai looked up at him, looking shocked. Then he grinned. "You're welcome! I had fun. You should run away again sometime and spend more time here. We can play more Duel Monsters! I can keep beating you over and over. Fun."

Manjoume threw his toast at Judai.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"I came up with a bunch of genius strategies while you were eating with your parents earlier, actually." This was a lie, but whatever, he'd come up with some on the spot. "You'll never beat me again. Get your cards."

"Oh, game on."

And so, they both grabbed their cards and started playing. Judai won the first game and mocked Manjoume's "genius strategies," in response to which Manjoume glared and threw his cards at the other boy. Judai just laughed and, well, his positivity was infectious. Manjoume smiled not too long after Judai started laughing at him.

They played a couple more games before making and eating some sandwiches. Once they finished eating, Manjoume stood up and said, "Well, uh… I guess I'll go now."

Judai pouted. "Aw. Not even one more game?"

"No, I… I should go."

"... Alright."

They both walked over to the door. Manjoume quickly made sure he had all of his cards. Then he opened the doorand looked over at Judai. 

"Bye. I guess," he said.

"Yeah," Judai said. "Bye."

They looked at each other for a moment. Then Manjoume started to step away. Before he could get out of the doorway, though, Judai threw his arms around him.

Manjoume squeaked and stumbled backwards. Judai didn't let go. Manjoume panicked. He wasn't exactly used to physical contact. How was he even supposed to participate in a hug? How tightly should he hold the other person to reciprocate the hug? Where exactly was he supposed to put his arms? 

After a moment, he, slowly, put his arms around the other boy. Not tightly or anything. Then he pat Judai's back a couple times before letting. Judai held on a couple seconds more before letting go, too.

Manjoume was certain his face was on fire, and he really hoped that Judai hadn't noticed how atrocious he was at hugging. 

"It was nice having you here," Judai said. "When I said you should come back, I meant it."

The black-haired boy nodded. "I, uh… I'll try."

"Cool."

"Cool."

And then, with a wave, he left.

Manjoume never did run away and go back to Judai's house again. Not necessarily because he didn't want to. His brothers kept a much closer eye on him after that, for one thing. Plus… he was scared. He didn't know why exactly, he just was. 

He thought about Judai and the time they spent together often, though. Not making any friends gave Manjoume a lot of time to think about the only person who had ever actually enjoyed spending time with him. He often dreamed of going back, of seeing him again, of playing more Duel Monsters with him, but he was never able to work up the courage to actually do that.

Years went by. Manjoume was convinced that he would never see Judai again. So one can imagine his shock when he went to the Duel Academy entrance exams and saw a certain someone dueling the head professor.

Later that day, after the exams, as Manjoume was exiting the building, a voice behind him said, "Holy crap. It's you!"

Manjoume knew exactly who it was. He recognized the voice. It was a little deeper, sure, but he recognized it nonetheless. 

Manjoume turned toward Judai and said, "Hey." 

"Wow! It's been so long." 

Manjoume nodded. They both stood there for a moment, looking at each other. He wasn't sure what to say, really. Was Judai mad at him for never visiting? 

"Well, I'm glad you're alive," Judai said. He didn't look mad at all. He was looking at Manjoume with a massive smile on his face, his cheeks red. 

"Uh, yeah."

Then the brown-haired boy walked up to him, linked their arms together, and started leading him forward. "Come on! Let's catch up and duel!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me when i first started writing this, halfway through my second gx rewatch of quarantine: wow, they're such cute friends!!! totally platonic!!!  
> me now: they're in love.
> 
> SKDJSKKSK anyway im sorry this took so long, i honestly just lost motivation. BUT IT'S DONE NOW SO YAY!!!  
> thank u so much for reading :D
> 
> ok im gonna shamelessly promote now,,,  
> follow me on quotev at .geturgameon or on twitter at .geturgameonn for lots of posts abt yugioh (especially zexal rn haha,,,, currently writing a super long essay on yuma).
> 
> so uh,,, yeah  
> hope u all enjoyed this thing. i love them lots so it was fun to write.  
> bye!!

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at description, I am so sorry.


End file.
